California school recites Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish and English

Like many school districts across the country, students at the three elementary schools in Lamont, California begin their day with a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

But there is one difference: Students say the pledge in both English and Spanish.

KGET-TV reports the district, which has a population that is 97 percent Hispanic, has been doing it this way for almost ten years. The station reports that some teachers in the district have not been happy with the policy.

"One of the issues with it being in Spanish is that not everyone got a chance to voice their opinion doing it that way," teacher Barry Champagne told the station. "Every time it was brought up for discussion, it was set aside and we never got a chance to vote for it or even discuss it any further."

Assistant Superintendent Ricardo Robles tells the station this is the first negative reaction the district has heard.

"We haven't had any complaints from anyone about this issue. We feel it's a very positive thing for our district," he said.

Columnist Robert Price, writing in the Bakersfield, Californian defended the tradition. He argues that reciting the pledge in both languages will help Hispanic students better assimilate to the nation's language and patriotic concepts if they understand what they are saying.

"That's why it's important that the Pledge be expressed in a way that has meaning to the speaker -- otherwise it's just a string of random syllables one utters before one takes a seat. Repeating the Pledge in both languages achieves both goals -- it builds a foundation for the understanding of concepts, and it provides one more simple, daily English lesson".

Robles told KGET he will meet with the teachers about their concerns before the district considers any changes tio the practice.

The Pledge of Allegiance has often become a hot-button issue in schools and communities around the country.

For example, The Winston-Salem Journal reports a North Carolina county school board is discussing a change in policy to allow students to choose not to recite the Pledge, after an incident involving a student who refused to say the Pledge.

The New York Times reports a decision recently by the University of Connecticut to include the Pledge of Allegiance with the National Anthem prior to its basketball games has drawn mixed reviews.

And earlier this year, NBC apologized after a firestorm of criticism when during coverage the U.S. Open, a taped piece with school kids reciting the Pledge, left out the phrase "Under God."

Rome, N.Y. native Francis Bellamy wrote the pledge in 1892, when he was circulation manager of the Boston-based "Youth's Companion" magazine. According to USflag.org, Congress recognized the pledge during World War II in 1942. A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schoolchildren could not be forced to recite the Pledge. In 1954, Congress added the words "under God" to the original text.

What do you think of this latest controversy involving the Pledge? Leave your comments below.